Speakers can be had in a wide range of prices. Even among internet-direct manufacturers, you can look at the bookshelf offerings out there and find a very wide range of prices The BLS is said to be pretty comparable to Ascend's Sierra 1, which is a really excellent speaker in the same price range. The Onix line (formerly distributed online by AV123, now handled online by a network of small distributors) has bookshelf speakers that range from about $950/pair up to almost $2000/pair. I've heard Axiom's M3 - in fact I'm about to replace a pair that I've been using as side surrounds for a number of years now - and while they are nice enough speakers, they are not as good as the BLS. Having listened to the two, I would say that they could reasonably classified as being in a different class. The M3 has plastic caps on its binding posts, while the BLS has metal caps on the bi-wirable binding posts along with controls for boundary compensation and high frequency adjustment. The upgraded posts are a nice touch. The controls are a really useful tool for room compensation. The BLS and LCR are built in the US (which is going to add cost) using European-made drivers (yes they are treated paper woofers, but that does not mean they are cheap). The LCR's $650 price tag exists for a reason, and personally I found them to be worth it. They have better build quality (including real wood veneer on the ones I bought) and sounded a bit better than the Paradigm Reference speakers (a $600 center and $1200 pair of towers when I bought them in 2001) that I had previously.